Supreme Court of India: Insurance Claim and the Survey Report of an Independent Surveyor who has not conducted an On-site Inspection? In United India Insurance Co. Ltd. v. M/s Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. & Ors, Appeal (Civil), 1496 of 2023 decided on 16.05.2024, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India inter alia decided the issue of whether the report of an independent surveyor who have not conducted an on-site inspection and has not been examined as a witness can overweigh the report of a surveyor who has assessed the claim based on an on-site inspection. FACTUAL MATRIX Na ..read more

Supreme Court of India: Abandonment of Claim by a Party as a ground to Terminate Arbitration Proceedings by the Arbitrator In Dani Wooltex Corporation & Ors. v. Sheil Properties Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. 2024 INSC 433, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has dealt with the issue of abandonment of claim by the claimant as a ground to terminate arbitral proceedings by the arbitrator. FACTUAL MATRIX Dani Wooltex Corporation (‘Dani’) provided its piece of land to Sheil Properties (‘Sheil’) for development by signing a development agreement (‘Development Agreement’). Dani and Marico Industries (‘Marico’) ent ..read more

English High Court: ‘Anti’ – (Anti – Arbitration) Injunction In Euronav Shipping NV v Black Swan Petroleum DMCC [2024] EWHC 896 (Comm), the English High Court decided a unique question i.e., whether or not to grant an anti-anti arbitration injunction. The case is summarized as under:- FACTUAL MATRIX In the facts of the case, Euronav Shipping NV (‘Euronav’), a company which is into the business of storage of oil based fuels entered into a storage agreement with Silk Straits SDN BHD (‘Silk Strait’) a Malaysian company for storage of certain goods in return of storage fee. This storage agreement ..read more

Supreme Court of India: Construction of Contract by the Arbitrator and Judicial Intervention in Appeal in the Award FACTUAL MATRIX In NHAI v HCC, CA 4702 of 2023, the National Highways Authority of India (‘NHAI’) awarded a construction contract to M/s Hindustan Construction Company Ltd. (‘HCC’). Disputes arose between the parties and the same was ultimately referred to arbitration. HCC raised three claims inter alia on additional costs due to increase in rates of raw material, non-payment for executed works and additional costs of transit fee. Whilst all three claims were allowed by majority ..read more

Singapore Court of Appeal: Conditional Award & Reservation of Jurisdiction by an Arbitrator to Issue a Further Award  In Voltas Ltd. v York International Pte Ltd. [2024] SGCA 12, the Singapore Court of Appeal dealt with some very interesting questions related with conditional awards and the power of an arbitrator to expressly or impliedly reserve its jurisdiction to pass a further award. A short summary of this case is as under:- FACTUAL MATRIX In the facts of the case, Voltas Ltd (‘Voltas’) and York International (‘York’) entered into a purchase agreement as per which York was requ ..read more

Singapore International Commercial Court: Disclosure of Fee Arrangement and Awarding of Costs in Arbitration FACTUAL MATRIX In the facts of Government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic v Lao Holdings NV [2024] SGHC(D) 9, certain disputes arose between Lao Holding NV (‘LMNV’) and Government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (‘GOL’) which was decided to be resolved by way of an ICSID arbitration. The Tribunal rejected LMNV’s claims and awarded legal as well as arbitration costs to GOL. Consequently, LMNV unsuccessfully applied for setting aside of the award in Singapore and thereaft ..read more

Supreme Court: Whether a Creditor providing an Interest bearing Security Deposit is a financial creditor under IBC Corporate Debtor (‘CD’) entered into two Service Agreements with the Creditor and in lieu thereof, CD has taken an interest bearing security deposit from such Creditor. The question before the Hon’ble Supreme Court was whether such arrangement makes the creditor a financial creditor within the provision of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (‘IBC’). PARTIES CONTENTIONS CD argued that the Creditor is an ‘operational creditor’ under Section 5(21) of IBC as he has entered in ..read more

Singapore High Court: Whether Failure to Raise Jurisdictional Challenge Amounts to Submission to the Tribunal’s Jurisdiction  In 2021, the Dubai International Financial Centre Arbitration Institute (“DIFC”) was abolished by Decree No 34 of 2021 (the “Decree”) issued by the Dubai government. The Decree abolished DIFC and transferred its assets to DIAC. Consequently, the Dubai International Financial Centre – London Court of International Arbitration Rules (the “DIFC-LCIA Rules”) ceased to be operative.  Later, the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (“DIAC”) was established and on ..read more

Singapore High Court: Conflicting Dispute Resolution Clauses and Transnational Issue Estoppel in Parallel Proceedings In Sacofa Sdn Bhd v Super Sea Cable Networks Pte Ltd and another  [2024] SGHC 54, the Singapore High Court inter alia dealt with issues related with conflicting dispute resolution clauses of two contracts in a peculiar situation. While deciding the issues, the Court shed some light on the concept of centre of gravity in the parties dispute to decide which dispute resolution clause is invocable correctly. Importantly, the Court has also discussed the concept of transnation ..read more

Supreme Court of India: Whether Section 29A of Indian Arbitration Act as amended in 2019 is Prospective or Retrospective in Nature. Section 29A of the Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (Arbitration Act) in its original form, provided a deadline for passing of an arbitral award which was 12 months from the period when the arbitral tribunal has entered its reference. This provision was introduced in the Arbitration Act with effect from 23 October 2015. At the time of its introduction, the deadline was made applicable to all arbitrations i.e., domestic as well as international commer ..read more